The weather needs watching

The last couple
of posts on this blog highlighted science news from around the world. Last week
saw some Canadian climate science news too, but unfortunately it wasn't good.

Thanks to a
request under Canada's Access to Information legislation, we obtained a copy of
a scathing internal government report about Canada's faltering climate and
weather monitoring systems.

Using crystal-clear
language, the report documents a pattern of underinvestment and cuts that
weaken Environment Canada's ability to accurately track the weather. The report
says that these problems are accelerating — to the point that Canada's systems likely
fall short of international standards.

As a
consequence, the author writes, "Environment Canada is on the road to junior
partner status with respect to other agencies." And employees are frustrated by
the increasingly obvious weaknesses of the system, which are "damaging morale
within and credibility outside the department."

Having good information
about precipitation, snow cover and temperature was always important, but
climate change has made it even more critical. Climate scientists base their
analysis on weather data, and engineers rely on it to build bridges and
infrastructure strong enough for Canada's changing climate.

The report we
obtained states clearly that this is not a new problem; the first cuts took place
over a decade ago. But this report is also not the first time that the
government has been warned about these problems. The Commissioner of the
Environment raised concerns about Environment Canada's climate and weather
monitoring in reports to Parliament in 2006 and 2008, and the Canadian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society carried
the same message to the House
of Commons Finance Committee in 2009.

In media
coverage of the report last week (see here for
an English article about the report and here for a French one), climate scientists confirmed their own
experience of the weakening of Canada's weather monitoring network. In
response, a senior Environment Canada official explained that "we continue to find ways to
improve our performance."

But that's a
long way from saying that the problems documented by the department's own staff
have been fixed.

Climate change
is a real and present threat in Canada, and we need top-quality information to
design resilient communities. Any government that truly understood the risks of
climate change would make sure we have the data to understand its consequences.
Despite years of warnings, it appears that Canada's federal government still
isn't acting on that message.